The monastery of Yuso, where we are staying, is tucked away in the hills east of Burgos and the land is as lush as we have seen on the trip so far. Reminds us a little of New Zealand! The monastery is close to one of the most popular routes of the Camino, the Camino de Frances. This walk is just under 500 miles and takes most people about a month to complete.

The monastery of Yuso has a critical role in the development of the Spanish language because it was here in the early 11th century that a monk wrote the first words of a vernacular language spoken in the area which later became Spanish as we know it. 

The monk was adding explanatory notes to a Latin codex. The picture on the right shows a Latin homily to which comments have been added in the margin. The codices also contain the first words of the Basque language ever written down.

If you have a fascination for the history of the Spanish language then have a look here.

The library to Yuso holds a complete collection of the  Cantorales, which contain the music of all the hymns used by the monks during the year. There are 30 giant books each weighing between 30 and 60 kgs. They were made by hand in the 17th century and are supposed to have used fragments of hide from over 2000 cows. Don't you just love statistics like that? 

If there's one thing the Catholic church loves it's a relic. Relics were real money spinners as pilgrims would come from far and near to venerate these odd bits and pieces of long deceased bodies. Yuso has a corker of a relic or relics. Apparently the monastery is the home to sarcophagi contain the remains of the beheaded children  of the Castilian nobleman Gonzalo Gustios. The sad bloody story is the subject of one of Spain's earliest epic poems. It's a long and complicated story which you can read about here if the fancy takes you. 

If you're not that curious then this little opening should whet your appetite. 

."..at the wedding between Doña Lambra, from Bureba, and Ruy Velázquez of Lara, a confrontation arose between the bride's family and the sons of Sancha, the infantes. In this confrontation, Alvar Sánchez, cousin of Doña Lambra, was killed by Gonzalo González, the youngest of the seven Lara princes. Later Gonzalo González is seen by Doña Lambra, having undressed to his undergarments to bathe his goshawk, and Lambra interprets it as an intentional sexual provocation. Taking advantage of this to avenge the death of her cousin Alvar, Lambra orders her servant to strip and humiliate Gonzalo González in front of her brothers, throwing a blood-covered cucumber at him. The irate Gonzalo and his brothers respond by killing the servant at Lambra's feet, spattering her with her servant's blood."

Who knew that you had to bathe goshawks? It's such a brilliant story that several monasteries have laid claim to the unfortunate headless corpses. The severed heads are claimed by the church of Santa Maria de Salas de los Infantes which proudly displays the supposed skulls of the seven brothers. I'm surprised they didn't sell them off one at a time to other monasteries, charge commission, and maximise their revenue that way.

The monastery of Yuso is located in the La Rioja region. La Rioja is the least populated autonomous region of Spain. This lack of regional  population is a significant problem in Spain and has given birth to the Espania Vaciada political movement. The inexorable movement of people into the cities and wealthy tourist regions means that the depopulated regions now account for about 50% of the Iberian land mass. This 50% only has 16% of the population. Most of this exodus happened in the 1950's and 60's when there was massive emigration under General Franco. The Espania Vaciada movement aims to put the inbalance between the two Spains on the political agenda. Government in Madrid has chronically neglected the rural areas and they have suffered from a lack of infrastructure development.  This web page presents a very clear explanation of the issues. For a more detailed academic analysis of the serious depopulation issue in Spain this article, though long, is extremely comprehensive.

You know when you're surfing the internet looking for something and your eye gets caught by something completely unrelated to the topic you are hunting?  Well I thought I'd share with you one alley I went down while I was researching Rioja wine and discovered this gob smacking product for sale. I thought at first it was a joke but, believe me, it's not. 

I suppose if you are able to afford that sort of money for a bottle of wine then you are also the sort of person who has no trouble swallowing the idea that your tipple has been injected with 'pyramidal energy.'  If you want further evidence that a fool and his/her/their money are soon parted you have only to read the following sentence from Senor Garcia who produces the wine,  “it is of utmost importance that no one in a bad mood come close to the vines since this bad feeling is passed onto the plants.” If only the Monthy Pythion team were still writing sketches, this would be ozone infused manna for them.